Bill to amend in Motor Vehicles Act to help corporates: Oppn

New Delhi: Opposition parties, including the Congress, on Monday opposed the proposed amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act in the Rajya Sabha, saying it would help the corporates and dilute the powers of the state governments.

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha, was introduced in the Upper House in April 2017 but was referred to a select panel.

After taking into account the panel's recommendation, the bill was re-introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

Moving the bill for consideration and passage, Minister of State for Transport Mansukhlal Mandaviya said it was an important measure as it aimed to adapt to the technological upgradation emerging in road transport sector and curb corruption in the process.

Participating in the debate on the bill, B K Hari Prasad (Cong) said there were 92 clauses in the bill, out of which amendments have been brought to about 69 clauses and there is no mention of road safety in most of them.

"Only three clauses out of the 92 clauses refer to road safety. It looks like it (amendments) is done to help corporates," he said, adding that the power for registration of vehicles has been given to private dealers in the bill.

Even the registration charges to be paid to the dealers would be higher than what the RTO charges, he said, and sought

to know where would this money go.

Hari Prasad also objected to higher penalty, saying it would hurt the poor people as the police never slaps penalties on the rich.

"If you go through the bill, it does not create a sense of road safety. Some clauses have been amended to help the corporates and dilute the powers of state government," he said.

The Congress leader, who was part of the select panel, said the government has "hardly" taken into account the committee's recommendations.

"We have tried to convince the minister and the chairman of the panel. But we have failed," he added.

Opposing the bill, Trinamool Congress member Manish Gupta said the proposed legislation in its current form "subverts the principle of federalism" by giving the control of the transport sector to the central government.

He said all the suggestions, which were given by the opposition parties during the standing committee meetings, have been rejected in the current bill.

"I appeal to all states which believe in federalism to oppose this bill," Gupta said.